


How Sweet of You

by MakisGohan



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 16:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6384313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakisGohan/pseuds/MakisGohan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maki had her own reasons for frequenting the quaint cafe not particularly close to her university. And no, the cute barista was definitely not one of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Sweet of You

**Author's Note:**

> Please take note that the currency used is in Philippine Peso (PHP) because I have no idea how much a coffee is in yen (double the amount, I'm guessing?)...   
> Also, Nico and Maki are dormmates in this, because I thought that would be something fun to write.
> 
> I probably should have mentioned that earlier back when I first posted it, but I guess I just kind of forgot to add the note :P 
> 
> Well, enough of that, please enjoy!

Maki had her own reasons for visiting the cafe more than once per day.

First of all, the life of a med student is war. Sleep is for the weak and coffee had become her sustenance. The coffee here was absolutely orgasmic. It was as good as ambrosia; no, even better than it, it was a blessing from the gods, especially on days when she needed the extra caffeine.

The new, very cute, barista who’d often work her shifts during Maki’s visits _definitely_ was not one of the reasons she’d been frequenting more often than usual.

“E-Excuse me? Miss?” Said cute barista questioned, “Y-You’re kind of holding up the line…”

Maki blinked and shook her head, “Y-Yeah, s-sorry about that.” she apologizes, blushing, “I-I’ll just have the usual, p-please.”

“One double shot macchiato, extra caffeine,” The barista dictates seamlessly as she punches in Maki’s order. “anything else?” she says with a smile so captivating, Maki could feel the blood rush into her already colored cheeks. 

Maki immediately turns her head down and clumsily removes some of the bills from her purse, “N-No, that’s it.” She reaches the straight, neatly folded bills over the counter, “H-Here. A-A hundred-seventy, right?”

Maki feels her heart rate quicken its pace as the barista’s fingers brush against hers when she takes the money from Maki’s embarrassingly shaky hands, “Yep, thanks!” the barista said, her smile growing impossibly brighter. As she counts the bills her eyebrows furrow slightly, and her smile falters, “Sorry, miss? This piece of paper...” The barista says confusedly, holding up said piece of folded white paper as if to inspect it, “Is it yours?”

Maki swallows thickly. Okay, if the new cute barista wasn’t one of the reasons she’d been frequenting this particular coffee shop, then _maybe_ it was asking out said cute barista. The first time Maki had seen her working was around three, maybe four weeks ago, during her lunch break on a particularly stressful day. The new barista behind the counter was definitely a sight for sore eyes, her hair reminding Maki of a rich caramel, smooth and sweet in appearance, and her eyes a purple so diluted compared to her own, their aesthetic much more delicate and kind in contrast to Maki’s sharp, vibrant ones. Maki could go on about her all day, or so Nico says. And therefore after spending about a little under a month admiring the girl from afar, Maki had decided _(with Nico’s help, of course)_ to ask the cute barista out on a date.

“Was it important?” She asks, handing the paper back to Maki.

“U-Um..” She briefly considers just throwing the entire plan out the window at this point; that is, until she remembers Nico’s kind words of wisdom.

_“I swear to god Maki, I’ll nico-nico knee you in the face if you don’t ask out the damn barista already.”_

Maki shakes her head, steeling herself, “N-No, um, i-it’s actually for you.” she manages, immediately regretting her words the moment they left her lips.

The barista blinks, “For me?” she carefully unfolds the paper, reading the rather neatly written words inscribed onto the paper with fine ink. Desperately hoping that Nico’s advice had actually been useful this time, Maki holds her breath as the girl’s eyes scan over her writing.

Finally, the barista nods, folding the paper and stuffing it into the breast pocket of her button-up shirt. “Here’s your change,” she says simply, the blinding smile from earlier making its way back onto her face as if nothing had happened. Maki feels crushed, defeated. She hadn’t even said anything, or even given Maki any indication to her reaction towards the paper.

“May… I ask for your name?”

Maki blinks, “H-Huh?” she responds dumbly, a small spark of hope igniting within her.

The barista giggles, uncapping her marker, “For your cup.”

“Oh.” Maki says crestfallen, “I-It’s Maki. I-I mean, I’m Maki.”

“Maki…” The barista murmurs as she scrawls her name on the cup, and Maki flushes slightly despite her initial rejection at the sound of her name falling from the other girl’s lips,  “Alright, I’ll have your order ready in a sec.” she says, smile never leaving her features.

Maki nods dejectedly before moving to her usual spot in the back of the cafe, taking a seat and pulling out the new iPhone 6+ her father had bought for her while he was a on a business trip in California. As soon as she clicks the power button, she is met with a barrage of notifications. Some school related texts and emails, but mostly Nico’s missed calls and text messages. With a tired sigh, she decides to call her distraught friend.

 _“So?? What happened?”_ The voice on the other end of the line practically screams at her as soon as the call comes through, her voice blaring through the speakers of the phone making Maki flinch at the volume, _“Tell me everything!”_

“No, uh, about that.” Maki breathes shakily, “Y-Yeah. I-It didn’t work out so well.”

Nico’s end of the line is silent for a while, uncharacteristically so, before her voice returns, although a little less enthusiastic this time, _“Stop pulling Nico-nii’s leg! My plan was fool-proof! There’s no way she couldn’t have been charmed by the sweet message I told you to write!”_

“You mean, _‘Roses are red, you’re very cute, maybe I can go on a date with you’_?” Maki deadpans, burying her face in her hands, “That was disgusting. Remind me again why I listened to you?”

 _“Hey! It worked on Nozomi, didn’t it?”_ Nico retorts,  _“Hmph, whatever. Want to meet me at the restaurant by the station? I’m paying.”_

Maki briefly checks her watch, mulling over her options before replying, “Sure, be there in 10. Maybe I could explain in more detail how you’re an _absolutely terrible_ wingman.”

“-Maki!” She hears a barista say, indicating that her coffee was ready.

“Sorry, gotta go.” Maki says, hastily ending the call before any of Nico’s annoyingly high pitched complaints could make their way through to her end of the line.

* * *

 

The coffee tastes unusually… sweet, Maki thinks idly as she takes a sip from her cup. She doesn’t think much of the taste most of the time, as she had grown accustomed to the rich, rather bitter, taste of her extra caffeinated coffee. She licks her lips, tasting the foreign flavor once again. Now that she thinks about it, this is the first time that the cute barista had ever prepared her coffee. Despite her frequent visits to the cafe, Maki had never really worked up the courage to place her order during the barista’s shift at the counter. She usually placed her order when either of the other two more familiar baristas, Rin and Eli, were manning the counter, and the cute barista would be either on her break, or cleaning tables. Maybe the barista had made a mistake with her order? Then again, she was able to recite Maki’s coffee order perfectly, as if she had been making it for months  _(How?)_. Maybe she had accidentally given her another person’s cup? As Maki begins to lift the cup in order to inspect the name scribbled onto it, she hears a familiar, rather irritating, voice attempting to call her attention.

“Oi, Maki!” Nico calls out to her, waving her hand in the air. Maki non-committally waves in response as she makes her way over to her raven haired friend. Although as soon as she arrives in front of her, she’s met with a smack to the back of her head.

“Hey! What gives?!” Maki protests, rubbing the sore spot with her free hand, “That kind of thing actually _hurts_ , you know.”

Nico only shrugs, “It’s what you get for hanging up on me a while ago.”

Maki shoots her a look, sharp and slightly dangerous, “Well, sorry if I was too busy being depressed about my unsuccessful attempt at asking the cute barista girl out.”

Nico’s expression softens, “Unsuccessful?” she questions, looking genuinely confused.

Maki lets out a shaky breath as she runs her fingers through her bangs in attempt to prevent herself from hitting the shorter girl, “Yes, unsuccessful. Nico-chan, don’t push it, because right now, I really wanna push _you_ into a-”

Nico scoffs before she doubles into a fit of laughter, “W-What’s so funny?” Maki questions, her irritation evident in her voice. Nico wipes a tear from her eye, “N-No, no, i-it’s just that-” she manages to get out before lapsing into another fit, “Y-You really think she rejected you?”

Maki only scowls in response.

Nico points to the cup still in Maki’s hands, “Have you even _thought_ to try and look at the cup?”

...The cup? Maki slowly lifts the cup to her eye level, carefully inspecting it. She sees nothing out of the ordinary, the usual. The cafe’s logo on the front, the box ticked with marker that indicated her order, the small reminder to recycle on the backside of the cup, an irrelevant inspirational quote that nobody really has the time to read, what kind of nonsense was Nico- _Oh._

Nico expression goes sly as Maki’s eyes visibly widen at the sight of the writing on the side of her cup, “And you said that my poem was disgusting.” scrawled onto the side of Maki’s cup was her name, of course. Her name surrounded by _hearts_ , along with a short message beside it. _“Maki ♥”_ it read, _“Thank you for the sweet message! I think you’re cute too!”_ Maki bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from screaming, disbelieving of what the writing implied. _S-She thinks I’m cute!_

Maki shakes her head, reminding herself that there’s still more to the message, _“I’ll be sure to call you later! I’d love to get to know you more!”_ are the last words scribbled rather hastily onto the cup, along with a series of numbers beside it.

“Ow!” Maki exclaims as another strike is delivered to the back of her head. 

“Look, I know you like her and all, but could you please stop staring at the cup like you want to kiss it?” Nico deadpans, “It’s kind of disgusting.”

* * *

 

Maki stares at the screen intently, keeping her eyes open for any incoming notifications and calls. She’d been doing this for one, maybe two hours now, hope rising to her chest and her heart pounding in excitement every time her phone would vibrate, only for the notification to be either school related or from Nico telling her to get off the phone and just wait for the call like a normal person. It’s already seven- no, nine-thirty in the evening, Maki realizes. At this point, she is most certainly considering grabbing the cup from her desk and calling the barista herself, but then again she didn’t want to seem _too_ desperate… Maybe she was still on her way home from work? Or she was busy? Maki wasn’t sure if she wanted to disturb the girl because of her own personal anxiety...

Maki jumps as her phone vibrates in her hands, an unknown number flashing on the screen. Hastily, she grabs the coffee cup and checks the number scribbled onto it, counter-checking it with the number on her screen. Realizing that they match up, she scrambles to hit the accept button, “H-Hello?” Maki says nervously, her voice quivering, “I-Is this…?”

The voice on the other side of the line giggles, _“If you mean the barista from Muse that you’d given the paper with the really sweet poem on it, then yes, that’s me.”_

“Oh god, don’t mention the poem, please.” Maki says, burying her forehead into her palm as her cheeks colored in embarrassment.

The barista giggles again, the sound ringing delicately in Maki’s ears causing her blush intensify, _“Don’t worry, I honestly found it quite endearing.”_ she admits. _“A-Actually, I think I’d like to take you up on that d-date you’d mentioned...”_

Maki inhales sharply, “O-Oh?” She swallows the lump threatening to lodge itself in her throat. _She didn’t plan this far ahead_. She feels around for her planner, hastily flipping the pages when she finally gets a hold of it, “H-How about this Sunday? W-We could go out for lunch, or something. At the Japanese place in front of the cafe?”

The other end of the line goes silent for a while and Maki’s beginning to think that she’d done something wrong. Crap, what if she wasn’t available on Sunday? Maki runs her hands through her bangs in distress, she didn’t _have_ any more free days! Why did med school have to be so- _so_...!

 _“That’d be nice. I-I’d really like that.”_ The barista finally says, and Maki lets out a relieved sigh, _“I-I’m sorry, I have to go now. I-It’s getting late and I have classes quite early in the morning tomorrow... Um, i-it was nice talking to you, Maki-chan!”_

Maki flushes at the honorific, and is thankful that the barista couldn’t see her right now, “I-It was nice talking to you too-” she starts, but pauses mid-sentence when she realizes that she doesn’t even _know_ the barista’s name, “U-um?”

The voice on the other end laughs, _“D-Don’t worry about it! U-Um, I-I’m Hanayo.”_

“H-Hanayo…” Maki says, enjoying the foreign feeling of the name on her tongue, ”R-Right. I-I’ll see you on our d-date!”

As soon as the phone line goes dead, Maki can’t help but let out a not so quiet squeal. She’d done it! She got a date with the barista! Maki rushes to her bed, kicking off her slippers and hugging her pillow tight, her excited screams muffled by the fabric of her pillowcase.

Her phone buzzes again, and Maki immediately drops everything to check the notification. Maybe Hanayo had sent her a good night text? Maki hopes so.

 She opens the text message hastily.

_Nico: Shut up, it’s like 10pm and I’d really like to get my beauty sleep_

_Nico: Look, I would normally be ecstatic that you’ve already managed to bed the barista, but keep it down, would you_

Maki feels her eyebrow twitch in annoyance, leave it to Nico to ruin a perfectly good mood.

“ _Ahh~_ Hanayo, harder!” Maki moans mockingly, loud enough that her voice resonates throughout her sizeable room. After Nico ruined her excitement over her date with the barista, she figures that her friend deserved the extra torment.

Her phone buzzes again.

_Nico: I hate you._


End file.
